Good friends...

Shannon and Alicia picked me up to go out for a coffee session. I was having a really bad day and they sensed it...

They did cheer me up...not in the sense that they told me funny stories (though they did), or flattered me (though they did), or listened (though they did). What helped the most was that we were all going through similar struggles (some of us having gone through it already). It's almost a relief to feel "normal" and that you're never alone in your hardships :)

Re-examining motives...

As I entered the halls of the Tyndale Seminary, I was excited yet nervous to be in an institution filled with people devoted to learning more about the Bible and its application to our society. Though I was genuinely excited to learn, I felt a bit weird to be in Seminary (if you know what I mean). I really felt that I needed to re-examine my motives in why I was there in the first place. Was it for status? Was it for that Masters degree? Was it for legitimacy? There must be people taking seminary courses for the sake of getting the ministry position of choice and/or getting people to take them seriously when teaching the Word (which can be seen as a true and good reason)...?

I was reading chapter 1 of Bolesch's, Essentials of Evangelical Theology(something that I'm required to read for Systematic Theology). I was encouraged to find that what I was reading rang true (deep in my heart). Good books are definitely a treasure!!! After reading this, I felt a sense of peace in knowing that I was in the right place:

Natural theology is reappearing in a new guise with the emphasis now not on proofs of the existence of God, but on the discovery of the divine ground of authentic humanity. Many of the theologies of experience today assume that femininity, blackness, liberation, secularity, hope, and so on, are in themselves revelatory, and, therefore, the biblical revelation is rendered superfluous. P.T. Forsyth gives this timely word of warning: 'A warm spirituality without the apostolic and evangelical substance may seem attractive to many--what is called undogmatic, or even unconscious, Christianity. It will specially appeal to the lay mind, in the pulpit and out. But it is death to a Church.